Friday Finish ...... Saturday!

Friday was not a good day for us, Bill was out doing some errands and started feeling chest pain. He went to the walk in clinic and they took him to the hospital. They put him on blood thinners and did a catheter today and found a major block, the widow maker.

So, I am a bit stressed and relieved, thanking God that he got in, in time and there was no damage to his heart. He is at the hospital for a few days, they did a stent and the doctor said everything looks fine now. So, I am hoping that is the case, it will take me some time to relax and destress and get things ready for when he gets home.

He cannot lift for awhile and I cannot lift too much, so I found that our local store will deliver groceries for only ten dollars, that is a deal to me. I can get what I want and have it bought in, so that will make it easier for me. The bad thing is, with the holiday weekend, I have to wait till monday to get it, so I might have to get out for some basics and plan some menus and what to buy.

I am hoping the weather is nice but not hot, so we can enjoy some time walking on the beach or for him, just sitting and relaxing. Tonight I took some time to relax and finish a project I had started. I found it on pinterest as a free design, and could not find the original design, so I hope I didn't steal a copyrighted image. It was a fun, happy piece to work on.

Another thing I started was some paintings. One is a new design by Teresa Kogut for her angel series, this was a bonus to go with the first one I did. I have her drawn out, but not started. The other project is a design I made from a  photo I took. I will have some detail, but not too much since it will be sanded and aged. Once things settle down this week, I can get back to these and enjoy some relaxing time.

Not much Monday!

This weekend went by fast, and one day was rain. The good thing is I got some shopping done and one thing we bought was a sink for the basement bathroom. I want to use my room to paint in, but no place to get water or wash my brushes, so hopefully it will be done before the summer is over;) I looked at sinks and they were all small and then I saw a laundry room sink, it is just the right size with a large, deep basin. It will also be great for rinsing wool when I get back into dying.

I did work a bit on my Laurel Burch panel. I decided it is going to be a bolster style pillow. If it fits, I may use it in the trailer for the dining table. We need a couch more than a table, so I will put it down and use the pillow for the back area, so we have a comfy spot to sit while we watch the one channel we can get, lol.

I am hand quilting, keeping it simple by following the gold lines and some of the insides of the leaves and leaving others, as is. It is more of a project to keep my hands busy when I have down time, I find it relaxing and I don't have to worry about getting up for supplies, just a needle and thread.

Sunday was a cloudy day and foggy at the ocean, but a great day for the beach with no crowds. We get a discount season pass for the state beaches, being old has its benefits. And it has its disadvantages. What was supposed to be a walk on the beach, since the tide was high, ended up in a treasure hunt, so my joints are paying for all the bending. I got some nice pieces and I am sure I could have gotten more, but rain was coming in and we had to miss the full low tide.

I need to have Bill get some of the old boards I have been saving. They are from a bureau that belonged to my grandfather and was falling apart, so I saved the good boards. I think they would be perfect for making beach art.

Friday Finish!

This week I worked on my baby quilt. I wanted to hand quilt it and I actually find that relaxing, though it does take longer than machine quilting, so not a good idea if I want to make charity quilts. I noticed that I was not going through the backing, so I decided to just quilt the top and attach the back with the ties.

It made it a lot easier and faster to quilt, but not the best way to attach the back, since there are only a few ties. I did quilt the back on the outer edge. It is not perfectly pieced, but I like how it came out. The outer edge is a darker black, the flash messed with the colors and print. The finished quilt is about 34" x 28".

And here is a close up of the stitching. I decided to add a heart in the center of the solid squares.

And here is the back. Here you can see where the problem with attaching the back last, has happened. Once I washed and dried it, it puckered up, worse on the outer edges. I am not sure what to do with the quilt, I really don't want to take it apart and not sure if anyone would want it. Time to start using my quilting machine.

Weekend Wanderings!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, mothers day can be bittersweet for so many of us. My son and family came over on Saturday, and of course we cooked for them. He doesn't quite get the concept of the holiday, haha. They did bring me some flowers to plant in my garden, so that was nice, and of course spending time with the boys, is always fun.

We spent the day shopping and had no luck and since we had some free time in the afternoon, we took a trip to the beach. The tide was almost in, but we still found some treasures on the beach.

On Sunday we went back, one more time. Camping starts next week, so the park will be open, but you have to pay to get in, so I doubt we will be back, until the fall. It was cloudy and cooler, but a great day for searching, since we hit the tide as it was going out.

Of course Bean loves it when we go to the beach. It is his favorite place and he can go off leash if there are no people around. He is fine with other dogs, but he wants to jump on everyone he sees and not everyone he sees, wants to be jumped on. He spends his time staring at us, until we throw a rock, then he pushes it across the beach, until he hits the water. Then he is back, until we throw another. He is easily amused.

Today was cleaning and catch up, a little bit of sewing on the baby quilt. Hopefully I will find time to get my canvases ready for painting and maybe some beach art.

Friday Finish!

This week, a few new patterns were uploaded on Cheri's facebook page. Even though she is no longer with us, she has given permission for others to keep the group going. I saw this pattern and knew I had to do it for the boys.

I changed it a little to make two boys, one was a girl. Then I put their names above the boy, that depicts them. Alex who is the happy, smiley boy and Nick who is always giving me that smart alec smirk.

I used Bills jeans and the green shirting is from their dad's old shirt, when he was younger, so it is a memory pillow, as well. The finished size is 7" x 11".

We also did some beach combing this week. We didn't get the full tides, but still found lots of treasures. The ones on the right are from our local dog beach, lots of craft glass, but some nice sea glass too. The ones on the left are from the island, a lot of smaller pieces but a few large ones.

I was able to find some tiny bits of glass, to finish my Love piece. It isn't what I imagined, so I will try some on wood, next. I like the way I can age wood, hard to do on canvas and this was a small one,  only 4". I realized that the glass shifted a bit and went off the line, the result of moving it too soon. It was good practice and I wanted to see how tacky glue would work, which was great for this project. I also sprayed a high gloss over the piece.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. It is a holiday I avoid, so I am hoping the rain doesn't last and we can get out for some walks on the beach.

Monday Works and Wanderings!

This weekend I was able to get some more of my quilt done. I am doing a simple black stitching around the edges and in the larger solid blocks, I was thinking of adding a stitched heart in the middle. Then to attach the back, I will do a tack in the middle of each heart.

I might just stick with a simple border stitch on the outer borders. It is not a the best quilt, as you can see by the crooked piecing, so I don't want to spend too much time on fancy stitching.

This weekend we got out for some beach time. The tide was higher, but it was going down, so we were able to enjoy walking on the beach and watching the seagulls fight for food. This guy wasn't going to share his dinner with anyone, and swallowed the whole fish.

Even though the tide was higher, it was down enough to find glass. We walked to the far end where it is rocky and found a few nice pieces, then on the way back, we searched on the newly exposed areas and found more. This beach had some nice pieces of pottery, as well.

Sunday was a cloudy day with predicted rain. I decided it was worth going to the beach, even if we could only spend an hour, I just feel so much better at the ocean. The tide was higher so we dug in the piles of stones and found quite a few nice pieces.

I circled one stone, at least it looks like a stone, but something made me keep it. When you put a light under it, it is green. You never know with older, thick glass. It is so dark it looks like a stone, but one indicator for me is, when it starts drying, it gets the salt specks on it. I am glad I didn't throw it back.

I also collected some tiny bits to put in my wave. Some stones go into the garden pile. When I find things, I can't always tell how they really look until they dry, especially the white stones. I think I need to bring a flashlight with me, for next time, I could be passing up old glass and not know it. And I think I need to get more glass jars to store all my treasures;)

Friday Finish!

A new month, means a new stitchery from Kathy's, One Stitch at a Time Club. I always enjoy getting a new pattern and they always work up quickly. She gives the option of using just floss or coloring in your piece with instructions on her method.

I thought I would try it this time, I used cheap pencils, which was not the best idea. They work, but you don't get the nice colors that art pencils, will give. I added some lavender and put it in my sewing room, with the fabric on a shelf. It really helps to keep things fresh smelling. Instead of stitching the buttons, I decided to use real ones.

I also tried a simple project for glass. I used a 4" canvas and tried to paint it to look like beach wood, but it just doesn't have the same look as real wood. I want to put a wave of glass in the heart, but my tiny pieces are not fitting that well. What seemed small to me, is not when you do it in this scale. I guess I will have to hit the beach and do a sand search for tiny pieces. There is tons of it on the beaches, so I will gather some for this piece.

I also used crackle, not the best looking piece and I think on wood this would look nice. I just set the glass down to give you an idea of what I am doing. You can see by the drawing, the wave needs more sweep, than I could get with the glass.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We have one good day, so I plan on enjoying being outside.